Lots of us can remember when no one had ever even heard of marijuana. In the 50's hardly anyone smoked it aside from a few Mexican field hands, some dock workers from the Caribbean islands, some jazz musicians, and a few poets, though as a practical matter it was next to legal. Those few who did smoke it were working adults. But once prohibition cranked up and began publicizing the drug, consumption, and particularly consumption among the young, just exploded. The single most effective step society could take to decreasing consumption by minors would be to legalize the drug.